Inhofe slams 'elitists'

Ada Evening News

Thursday, March 26, 2009

— By Justin Lofton
Staff writer

March 26, 2009

United States Senator Jim Inhofe stopped in Ada on Friday afternoon to give a rundown of what was going on in Washington. In what his press release describes as “an onslaught of unprecedented policies,” the Obama administration is going to be attempting to increase taxes on the oil and natural gas industry.

“He (Obama) has eight punitive tax provisions in his budget for our oil industry,” Inhofe said. “Most of the independent oil people will tell you that they’re out of business if something like this happens.” Inhofe’s press release said there is a proposed tax increase of $31 billion on the oil and gas industry. Many owners of mineral rights would also face higher taxes, the release said.

“The whole idea of what he’s (Obama) doing is very punitive to almost any business or industry, but specifically to the oil industry,” Inhofe said.
He said those backing these kinds of agendas are “extremists” and “Hollywood elitists.”

“They don’t want oil, they don’t want gas, they don’t want coal, and they don’t want nuclear, either. How do you run this machine called ‘America’ if you don’t have any of that stuff?” he said.

Inhofe also touched on what he doesn't like about $4.4 trillion in new deficits over the next decade, including the recent bail-outs.
“All these things are bad and unaffordable, but at least they’re only a one-shot deal,” Inhofe said.

Inhofe is also opposed to the proposed Cap and Trade tax for carbon dioxide. “The cost of that would be just under $400 billion a year,” he said. “The reason the environmentalists, the extremists, have so much power is that they have all the money. moveon.org, George Soros and Michael Moore, they put millions of dollars into campaigns.”

Inhofe is confident an effective opposition to the “Hollywood elitists” in question could be mounted, although he said in the United States Senate, that group has control over every Democratic vote, as well as a few Republican votes.

Inhofe said another pressing issue is national security. He said there was a recent proposal by the Obama administration to get rid of veterans’ benefits and have them taken care of by private insurers, instead.

“The night before last, (Obama) backed down from that,” Inhofe said. The senator said he is also concerned about the Obama administration’s plans to take the detainees out of Guantanamo Bay and try them in the U.S. court system.

“The ones that are still there are the ones whose countries won’t repatriate them,” Inhofe said. “He (Obama) even said the night before last that we’ll have to assimilate them into the United States of America. If there’s anything that we don’t need, it’s a bunch of terrorists running around.”